The Larry P. decision is criticized with reference to: (1) predictive tests and the standard curriculum; (2) the court's portrayal of special classes; (3) the effects of the 1972 decision on special class enrollment; (4) semantic confusion; and (5) the impact on Black children who experience academic difficulty. (Author/CTM)

Test scores on the Test of Basic Concepts, a school readiness test, were compared with actual performance in school for 186 low-scoring and 133 high-scoring groups of first graders from Spain at the beginning of the school year to explore the issues of competence testing and prediction of performance. The measure of school performance was derived…

This study, focusing on 165 public elementary schools in Hawaii, examined the use of test scores as measures of curriculum effectiveness and identified context and input variables that may impact on these measures of effectiveness. Demographic characteristics and test data on approximately 12,000 third graders were used to obtain 165 school…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 20 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) reading readiness, linguistic awareness, and nonverbal problem solving ability in relation to first grade reading achievement; (2) predictive accuracy of third…

The Board of Education of the Houston Independent School District, through the Volunteers in Public Schools, organized the Kindergarten Screening Project in 1970. The Kindergarten Screening Instrument (KSI) consists of five sub-scales: (1) the visual scale measures visual acuity at 20 feet; (2) the hearing scale measures the child's ability to…

Records kept by teachers and data collected by trained observers were examined as alternatives for measuring allocated and engaged instructional time in elementary school classes. The teacher ratings of student engagement did not correlate with observer ratings of engagement, but a high correlation between teacher ratings of engagement and student…

This book addresses the question of what tests are measures of. Intelligence, achievement, and personality tests not based on empirical investigation have questionable validity. Some researchers now suspect that almost all tests given to students in all subjects, as well as general tests of intelligence and personality, are essentially language…

Using an eight-day hydraulics maintenance course taught by 121 instructors on a regular basis to classes of about 14 students using the same classrooms and materials, the Air Force conducted a study designed to determine instructor measures which correlate with, and are therefore predictive of, student achievement. The study report first discusses…

The use of tests in personnel decisions has become an increasing legal liability for employers. The major questions raised by the courts concerning this use of tests are described. Current federal guidelines for performance appraisal systems, as established by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, are explained and traced to Title VII of…

Data on language competence and language use were obtained for 99 Spanish/English bilingual elementary school children (kindergarten through fourth grade) from Albuquerque. The children's language skills were assessed by teachers, interviewers, and the children themselves. The teachers and the children also estimated the extent to which the…

The College Entrance Examination Board's (CEEB) internal review of its efforts to develop and implement programs to expand educational opportunities for minorities and the poor revealed that the Board had not been as successful as it had hoped. Most of the Board's efforts to ensure equal access to higher education focused on guidance programs,…

A central problem for the user of domain-referenced tests in instruction is deciding who has passed and who has failed. Two procedures were presented and discussed. The first, employing classical test theory, was found to be more useful for larger domains and where the passing standard is 70 percent or less. The sampling procedure suggested by…

A 3-year study was conducted to validate the eight-factor Vocational Capacity Scale (VCS), designed for use with the retarded. Subjects were 366 institutionalized mental retardates, both educable and trainable, aged 15 to 30, who were administered the VCS twice, 1 year apart. Social workers and staff worked individually to promote the highest…

This symposium on the learning organization is comprised of three papers. "Leading the Learning Organization" (James R. Johnson) examines actions that four leaders of widely diverse organizations took to transform an organization into a learning organization. (Leaders who were successful in implementing the learning organization concept…

This study examines how high school preparation, standardized test scores, and scores on program entrance examinations are indicators of White, Black, and Hispanic students' academic performance and completion of teacher education programs. Transcripts of teacher education students (N=712) matriculating in traditional 4-year teacher education…